Friday, 29 November 2013

Yesterday, practising Illustrator and ex HCA student Jessica Johnson gave a talk on her work and career since leaving Kingston University then spent the day with our group. Her work was adorable and I had some good advice about the the book cover work. She pointed out the thumbnail sketch I did of the boat that had a lot of space around it and said that it would work nicely for a cover - so I'm taking her advice and going with that idea.

Friday, 22 November 2013

You
must produce a front cover image for each of the TWO
books from which the stories have been taken.

The
cover should include the authors name and the title of the story
including the spine where the text is of course repeated. You must
your new In-Design skills to mock up the page with text and image in
place.

Remember your job is to set the scene, create intrigue,
and give a taste of the text, but never to give too much away.

So...

According to The Fundamentals of Illustration (Lawrence Zeegen/Crush), 'some of the best work created combines techniques that encompass simple bold drawing and a system reduction - ensuring that simplicity communicates the narrative.'How relevant is the saying; 'don't judge a book by it's cover'?There has to be a balance between the overall appeal of the design in relation to it's target audience and the visual communication of the text that doesn't give too much away. That's what makes someone pick up a book instead of another.Successful book covers are simply a vital marketing tool.

Having looked through the AOI artist portfolios under 'book publishing', I have concluded that successful contemporary book illustration consists mainly of shapes and form and little use on line work. Illustrators that I feel stood out the most were Nick Morely, Darren hopes and Laura Barrett.

Saturday, 2 November 2013

HELLO! My name’s Rhi and I’m currently a month into the second year of studying
Illustration at degree level and this is my blog that’s dedicated to my
course work. I’m aiming to keep it updated weekly and include research,
written summaries, progress work, and finished pieces on current project
work.

'Rhitown' is inspired by Emi Lenox's 'Emitown: A Sketch Diary' (which I
recommend you look up RIGHT NOW… in another tab of course) so throughout
the course I'll be putting up some character doodles/short comics on
life's little goings ons to lighten up the seriousness of coursework.